Monopoles and Three-Manifolds

Originating with Andreas Floer in the 1980s, Floer homology has proved to be an effective tool in tackling many important problems in three- and four-dimensional geometry and topology. This book provides a comprehensive treatment of Floer homology, based on the Seiberg-Witten monopole equations. After first providing an overview of the results, the authors develop the analytic properties of the Seiberg-Witten equations, assuming only a basic grounding in differential geometry and analysis. The Floer groups of a general three-manifold are then defined and their properties studied in detail. Two final chapters are devoted to the calculation of Floer groups and to applications of the theory in topology. Suitable for beginning graduate students and researchers, this book provides the first full discussion of a central part of the study of the topology of manifolds since the mid 1990s.

Author: Peter Kronheimer, Tomasz Mrowka
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 11/25/2010
Pages: 808
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 2.51lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.10w x 1.70d
ISBN: 9780521184762

About the Author
Kronheimer, Peter: - Peter Kronheimer is William Caspar Graustein Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Harvard University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and has been awarded several distinguished prizes including the 2007 Oswald Veblen Prize. He is co-author, with S. K. Donaldson, of The Geometry of Four-Manifolds. His research interests are gauge theory, low-dimensional topology and geometry.Mrowka, Tomasz: - Tomasz Mrowka is Professor of Mathematics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He holds the James and Marilyn Simons Professorship of Mathematics and is a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was a joint recipient (with Peter Kronheimer) of the 2007 Oswald Veblen Prize. His research interests are low-dimensional topology, partial differential equations and mathematical physics.